Monkey islands proposed to protect people

Crab-eating macaques that live around Khun Kala monument beneath the southern ring road of Bangkok's Bang Khun Thien district are rarely short of food - and that's not crab this visitor is handing out. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

The National Legislative Assembly's animal protection committee has proposed relocating excess monkey populations to selected islands to lessen the problem of simian conflict with human communities.

The committee has been considering how best to address problematic monkey population in 11 provinces. Committee chairman Wallop Tangkananurak presented copies of their proposal to deputy governors of these provinces at the parliament on Wednesday.

"Monkey problems are both troublesome and a challenge because monkeys are clever, fast and agile and difficult to manage," he said. The plan divides the provinces into three groups.

The first covers Krabi, Trang, Phuket and Amnat Charoen, places where people encroached on monkey habitats. The plan suggests reducing interaction between people and monkeys, and especially an end tro feeding them and to dumping garbage in monkey habitats.

The second group consists of Bangkok, Chon Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Satun and Saraburi, where monkey habitats are surrounded by human communities. The committee proposed sterilisation of monkeys in the four provinces to limit numbers and their relocation to more suitable areas.

The third group comprises Phetchaburi and Mukdahan provinces, where monkey habitats and communities have overlapped. Monkeys in these provinces should also be relocated, the committee recommended.

Before any of these proposals were implemented, local residents would be asked if they could co-exist with monkeys. If they could, monkeys would be sterilised. If they could not, monkeys would be relocated to monkey colonies, Mr Wallop said.

Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, deputy head of the NLA committee, said sterilisation was a solution but was not enough in itself to control monkeys' reproduction capability. "Islands will be turned into monkey colonies, places where monkeys can live happily until the end of their lives," he said.

Officials initially eyed five islands of Phuket province as such colonies - Koh Ngam, Koh Payu, Koh Tanan, Koh Pae and Koh Malee. Adequate sources of food and water would be developed there to support the monkey colonies.There would be public hearings on the idea, Pol Gen Pongsapat said. If people disagreed, other solutions would be considered.

Lop Buri is another province with a problem. About 12,000 monkeys live alongside human communities there. Proposed solutions started with a plan to relocate monkeys to Khao Phraya Doen Thong mountain in Phatthana Nikhom district. Other provinces with monkeys could look to Lop Buri as their solution model.

BANGKOK, 17th May 2018 (NNT)-An academic seminar is being held to find ways to prevent wild monkeys from harassing people in many provinces.

Wallop Tangkunarak, in his capacity as chairman of a committee on wildlife protection, opened the seminar on the matter and described a master plan to deal with the animals.

According to Wallop, the plan aims at relocating wild monkeys to a more secure location away from communities and lowering interaction between them and humans.

Signs will be put up in Krabi, Trang, Phuket and Amnat Charoen provinces where wild monkeys can be seen all year around to tell people not to feed them or enter their natural habitats.

As for Bangkok, Chonburi, Prachuab Khiri Khan and Satun provinces, where the animals live close to communities, they will be neutered and located to a new place in an effort to keep their population under control.

Special areas for monkeys will be constructed to deal with the same problem in Petchaburi and Mukdahan provinces where human residential areas have been built in their natural habitats. The animals are expected to be relocated to their new homes.

LOPBURI, 18 May 2018, (NNT) - Thailand's Lopburi Provincial Administrative Organization has held a meeting to address the issue of monkey overpopulation.

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) recently instructed the province to come up with solutions to deal with the overpopulation by animals. The NLA indicated that Lopburi will become a model city for animal management.

Lopburi officials resolved to establish three monkey habitats and step up measures to control the monkey population.

They clarified that the three habitats will be set up in Khao Somphot non-hunting area in Chai Badan district, Erawan non-hunting area in Phatthana Nikhom district and Khao Phraya Dern Thong mountain which is also in Phatthana Nikhom.

The authorities said they are conducting feasibility studies on the availability of food and habitats for the monkeys. They are considering whether to relocate the entire troup or handpick the ones which display undesirable characteristics. The process is expected to take at least two years.

According to the Lopburi Livestock Office, there are about 4,000 monkeys residing in the central business zone and Phra Prang Sam Yod temple in the capital district. The office indicated that, over the past two years, the agency and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation have organized five campaigns to provide vasectomy operations in an attempt to bring the monkey population under control.

PHUKET, 23rd May 2018 (NNT) – A public hearing into dealing with the monkey problem in Phuket province, one of 12 such areas facing the issue, found most residents agree with neutering the animals but not with moving them to a different location.

The community is one of seven in Phuket facing a monkey problem due to a boom in the population of macaques and pig-tailed monkeys. The others are Bang Rong Pier, Baan Yamu, King Kaew Soi 9, Siray Island, Khao Rang and Khao Toh Chae.

The forum explained the situation to residents alongside a plan to move the monkeys to five uninhabited islands and a plan to neuter them. Most participants agreed with neutering the animals but disagreed with moving them from the area.

As long as people are going to feed them, they are going to be a nuisance.
There are no uninhabited islands big enough to handle all of them (with water and food)
Time to open hunting season IMO.
Feed them from traps instead of by hand.
Send the meat to China, they'll eat it.

PHUKET, 26th May 2018 (NNT) – The third public hearing to solve the problem of the macaques in Toh Sae Mountain was held yesterday with the same outcome as in the previous two hearings.

The third public forum on the monkey problem was held in the area of Wat Charoen Samanakij, Ratsada Subdistrict, Muang Phuket District to hear the opinions of the population in regard to possible solutions to the problem of the macaques on Toh Sae Mountain. Local organizations, other related agencies and members of the public took part in the discussions.

The problem is due to the public and tourists’ feeding the macaques, causing a rapid increase in the macaque population. Although there is no apparent impact on residents who come to exercise at the park on Toh Sae Mountain, some macaques cause harm to tourists due to wrong feeding.

Initially, the provincial authority installed warning boards with recommendations on safe monkey viewing displayed in four languages for the guidance of tourists.

As a result of the public hearing, related officers, the people working in the area of Toh Sae Mountain and the local population mostly agreed with sterilization to control the monkey population but not with relocating them.

The Bang Khun Thian district in Bangkok has drawn up ambitious plans to turn a 13-rai landlocked plot into a paradise for 600 to 700 long-tailed macaques instead of evacuating them to Phuket.

Prasert Chawee-in, director of the Bang Khun Thian district authority, said they did not agree with the proposal by a committee of the National Legislative Assembly to catch the monkeys and release them to Phuket’s uninhabited islands.
Prasert said his was the only district in Bangkok that had five groups of monkeys of long-tailed macaques.

He said the largest group lived near the Khun Kala Monument, which is known as “Monkey Monument” on the frontage road on the southern part of the western ring road in Tha Kham subdistrict.

PHUKET, 19th June 2018 (NNT) - Forty two macaques have been released into their natural habitat of King Kaew Mangrove Forest after they were neutered to control their population.

The monkeys were released back into the mangrove forest in Ratsada sub-district after they were all sterilized. Out of seventy-one macaques living in the mangrove, forty-two were captured and neutered.

The decision to neuter the animals was made on May 27 during a town hall meeting. It was carried out to keep their numbers under control and prevent them from harassing tourists and residents in Phuket. Some of them have also been transported elsewhere.